I am building inset-paneled wainscoting in a stairwell with a landing. The wainscot rails will be horizontal on the landing and will match the staircase angle as it goes up the stairs. The stiles will reamin vertical for all panels. The design has a short panel at the top (5-1/2″ high panel reveal), a mid-rail with waist moulding, then another taller panel below (about 22″ high).
The trouble is that when then panels go from flat to angled, the perceived width of the rails and panels, and hence the spacing between the panels, changes. I’ve included a rough drawing and explanation of the panels here, including labels for a few of the more irritating problems here: wwww.CPIRealEstate.com/Wainscot in Stairwell.jpg.
Does anyone have any ideas on how to manipulate the arrangement so that I get more consistent looking results? Are there any visual tricks that might help? What does “everyone else do”? (I’m far from the first one to have to make something go up the stairs but look the same as the stuff that’s NOT on the stairs.
I’d appreciate any help at all.
Thanks!
Replies
When doing panel work you need to understand and accept that the perimeter is the constant - not the area. Think of the corners being on hinges or pivots. The panel basically becomes a parallelogram of various shapes, all having the same perimeter length.
That's it.
If you maintian the panel dimension as the constant and allow the perimeter length to vary, it will simply look awkward and heavy/ klunky.
Frankie
Experiment with the placing of the ingredients on the plate. Try the mozzarella on the left, the tomato in the middle, the avocado on the right. Have fun. Then decide it goes tomato, mozzarella, avocado. Anything else looks stupid.
Richard E. Grant as Simon Marchmont - Posh Nosh